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Sudanese protest leaders and army leaders agreed on Saturday to create a joint civilian-military government council, a major step forward in talks between the two sides on protesters' demand to move to civil power.
The agreement on the highly controversial issue came as thousands of protesters are camped in front of the army headquarters since the army overthrew longtime leader, Omar al-Bashir, the April 11, demanding that its leaders relinquish their duties.
"We agreed on a joint council between civilians and military," said one of the leaders of the protest campaign, Ahmed al-Rabia, who was involved in the talks. .
"We are currently consulting on the percentage of council members who should be represented by civilians and the number of members of the armed forces."
The agreement between the two sides is a major step forward as current military leaders have refused to hand over power to a civilian administration, despite pressure from the streets and the international community.
"I am happy with the outcome of the negotiations and the other protesters will be too," said protester Ahmed Najdi, who has regularly camped in front of the army complex in recent weeks.
"We are still waiting for the final composition of the joint council."
The new council will be the sovereign body that will form a transitional civilian administration.
The decision to create a joint council was taken during talks held since Saturday morning by a joint committee representing the ruling military leaders and protesters.
The discussions were the first by the joint committee.
& # 39; We will not leave & # 39;
Bashir was ousted by the army after months of protests against his three-decade reign.
On April 6, thousands of protesters reached the headquarters of the army in central Khartoum, demanding that the army support the opponents of Bashir.
Five days later, the army overthrew Bashir but then took power in his hands through a 10-member transitional military council.
Another protester, Rawan Al-Fateh, said the campers would not leave until their demands were met.
"We will not leave until we have put in place a civil law and laws guaranteeing freedom of expression."
The buses that brought the protesters did not stop arriving Saturday, with hundreds of protesters coming from the eastern province of Kbadala, said an AFP photographer.
The leaders of the protest had already held several rounds of inconclusive talks with the military council since Bashir's ouster.
Earlier this week, both parties agreed to create a joint committee to chart the way forward.
The military council has so far insisted that he was in power for a transitional period of two years.
Western governments have expressed support for protesters' demands, but major Arab Gulf lenders have backed the military council, while African states have asked the army for more time to leave it to civilians.
Sadiq al-Mahdi, a senior opposition official in the country, called on Sudan to join the International Criminal Court, which indicted Bashir.
Mahdi, former prime minister and leader of the Umma national opposition party who supported the protests, also told reporters that the Bashir eviction by the army was "not a coup of the military state ".
Call to join the ICC
Mahdi also said that "it is possible to agree on a civilian authority with the military council because they do not provide for a coup d'etat".
The former Sudanese prime minister and opposition leader, Sadiq al-Mahdi. By Ebrahim Hamid (AFP)
But he said his party would not be part of a civilian transition government.
He insisted that Sudan should join "immediately" the International Criminal Court based in The Hague, where Bashir is wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity because of his alleged role in the conflict in Darfur.
Bashir, 75, has always denied the charges against him.
The war in Darfur broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, accusing it of social and political marginalization.
According to the United Nations, about 300,000 people have died in the conflict, and 2.5 million people have been displaced, many of them still living in miserable camps across the west of the country.
Spokesman of the protest group, Amjad Farid, told reporters that Bashir and other prominent figures of the regime could be tried in Sudan.
"We are not seeking retaliation against them, but we want to rebuild our justice system to hold them accountable for their crimes," he said.
Mahdi, who was forced to leave office by Bashir during a coup in 1989, said the president's regime was hanging on despite the upheavals.
"The overthrown regime could still try to make a coup d'etat," he said without giving further details.
As protesters urged the military to go civilian on Saturday, the attackers threw stones at a meeting of members of the People's Congress Party Islamist, an ally of Bashir, wounding 32 dead. Between them.
The group in charge of the demonstrations and the military council condemned the incident.
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